Immigrants’ descendants become Americanized’ and speak English

The Repository

Writer

Posted Aug. 3, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Aug 3, 2013 at 3:17 AM

Posted Aug. 3, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Aug 3, 2013 at 3:17 AM

I can see how a person could read about the need for translators (“Police, courts see need for more Spanish interpreters,” June 19) and conclude that Spanish-speaking immigrants don’t want to learn English, as a recent letter declared (“Spanish-speaking immigrants should learn English as past generations did,” June 28). However, this is a misperception.

A recent Pew Hispanic Center survey showed that 92 percent of Hispanics believe it is “very important” that children of immigrants be taught English. Interestingly, only 87 percent of whites believe it is “very important.”

Bilingualism has always been a big part of American immigrant history. In the 19th century, both Ohio and Pennsylvania had laws requiring classes in public schools to be taught in German if 50 percent of the parents in a district requested this.

The anxiety that immigrants won’t learn English and become American has also been a big part of American history. Many in the late 19th century and early 20th century feared that German immigrants weren’t assimilating, so German-Americans faced criticism.

Chinese and Japanese immigration was banned during this era because some Americans feared they would not become American.

And Congress passed laws in 1924 and 1927 to restrict immigrants from Italy, Greece and Eastern European countries because many feared they weren’t learning English and “Americanizing.”

The reality is that all of these immigrant groups have contributed greatly to the United States. Stark County is proof of that.

Over time, original immigrant languages were no longer spoken by descendants, and bilingualism faded into English-speaking monolingualism. This is actually a loss for American culture, in my view.

Nevertheless, the evidence shows that these same immigrant patterns will take place among Hispanics.